170 BOTRYCHIUM LUNARIA, 



Mountains, Kamtschatka, Lake Baikal, Tasmania, the Island of 

 Fuegia, Australian Alps, etc. 



A difficult plant to cultivate. Found in dry, open, elevated 

 pastures and waste lands; requiring to be kept cool and moist 

 by a thick low vegetation, which invariably surrounds this 

 species. Hence the difficulty of imitating its natural growth. • 



Fronds herbaceous, the sterile and fertile branches being 

 distinct. 



Fronds solitary; the sterile branch pinnate; pinnse lunate or 

 fan-shaped, from four to seven pairs; margin somewhat crenate, 

 occasionally partially fertile. The fertile branch pinnate or 

 bipinnate, the contracted rachiform divisions fleshy. 



Roots stout, fleshy, and brittle. Stipes erect and smooth, 

 bearing a two-branched frond, the one sterile and the other 

 fertile. 



Veins of the barren frond repeatedly forked, radiating from 

 the base, and terminating within the margin. 



Fructification sessile, erect, in two rows along each segment. 



Spore-cases smooth and spherical, bursting transversely; when 

 mature, golden brown in colour. 



The plant perennial, but the fronds annual. 



T'here are two distinct varieties. 



The variety Rutaceum has a broader barren branch, which 

 is triangular in form and twice divided. 



The variety Moorei, (Plate LXVI. — B,) named after Mr. 

 Thomas Moore, an indefatigable and well-known cryptogamic 

 botanist, is similar in its fronds to the normal form, with the 

 exception of its edge being deeply incised, giving the frond a very 

 handsome appearance. This variety has been found in some 

 abundance near Crosby Kavensworth, Westmorland, by Mr. 

 Clarke, gardener to Mr. Wilkinson Dent. 



Length of frond from eight to ten inches ; colour a light 

 yellowish green. 



The normal form may be procured of any Nurseryman. 



The illustrations are from fronds forwarded by Mr. Clarke. 



